Maine has a significant portion of the maple sugaring and maple syrup industry with 14% percent of the U.S. production in 2014. Vermont produced 40%, and New York, 18%. Big Six Township, in northern Somerset County, is said to account for roughly 23% of Maine’s maple sugar production and 4% of the U.S. total production.…
Upper Cathance River begins at Bradley Pond in Topsham, flows through a marsh and then to farmland and wooded areas to U.S. Route 201. The full river continues through Bowdoinham and through the Cathance River Preserve, where it widens and ultimately enters Merrymeeting Bay. One of many Maine canoe trips, this one begins and ends…
The Royal River traces its origins to Sabbath Day Lake in New Glouceste. It is joined by several brooks on it way south through Auburn, back to New Gloucester, then to Gray, North Yarmouth and Yarmouth before entering Casco Bay. A popular six-mile canoe trip begins in North Yarmouth on Route 9 near Dunn’s Corner…
T3 R4 BKP WKR This township hosts the Long Falls Dam on the Dead River. That dam maintains the level of Flagstaff Lake, but required the removal of the village of Flagstaff, which was flooded as a result of its construction.. There was a small natural lake at Flagstaff. In 1950, Central Maine Power Company…
The Roll Dam campsite is a fine location from which to launch the brief trip to Lobster Stream and then to Lobster Lake. The AMC River Guide notes that “This is the smoothwater section of the West Branch [of the Penobscot River].”* The campsite, on the right bank, and the first mile on the river…
This relatively brief canoe trip makes about five of its six miles through the town of Gilead. Infrequent Class I rapids are involved; shallows where the river divides around several small islands require one’s attention. Launching is near Bridge Road off U.S. 2 in Gilead. The bridge over the Androscoggin is immediately apparent after entering…
This portion of the Nezinscot River canoe trip begins in Buckfield Village and terminates in Turner Center Village. Entrance to the canoe launch area is off Route 117 (Turner Street) in Buckfield, just downstream from the bridge, where the the water is conveniently flat. Click on the circled village areas for related articles, and on…
canoe tripsThis is a pleasant, scenic, and sometimes challenging trip, on the Sheepscot River. Click on numbered canoe icons at right for video clips. The river at this point runs north to south for about six miles from the East River Road Bridge in Whitefield to Head Tide Dam at Head Tide Village in Alna.…
This section of the Sandy River provides spectacular views of boulders, rock-strewn shores, and high banks sheltering cliff swallows. Beginning in Phillips well below the bridge, the river passes through Avon and Strong before arriving at Farmington. It is populated with many class I and II rapids, and has frequent shallows, especially at low water…
Yes, the Gray Catbird sounds like a cat in “normal” mode. But, being a relative of mockingbirds, it often imitates others or combines sounds of several species to create its own music. The one pictured here is typical in its preference for thick growth among the lilacs and its frequent visits to a bird feeder.…
According to the Audubon Society’s Field Guide to North American Birds, “The Bobolink was probably confined to the central grasslands originally, but with the settling of the Northeast it quickly spread into New England. Now with farms abandoned and the land returning to forest, the species is declining.” In Harpswell, a large portion of Mitchell…
This bridge, built in 1931 by the American Bridge Company was slated for replacement in 2013, and was described in the Federal Infrastructure Projects web site as noted below. The project replaced an 80 year-old movable span truss bridge at the end of its service life with a high level, fixed bridge over the Kennebec…
Tidal flats are a substantial resource harboring a variety of species, including clams, quahogs, marine worms, lobster larvae, and crabs. These resources are endangered by polluted water runoff from residential and commercial activities. The video clip below shows clam survey activity and small crabs scampering under an incoming tide during an educational event in 2012.…
Donald Baxter MacMillan (1872-1970), though born in Provincetown, Massachusetts, lived in Freeport as a boy, and graduated from Freeport High School and Bowdoin College in Brunswick. He later taught at schools in Maine and Massachusetts. After joining Admiral Robert E. Peary’s successful expedition to the North Pole in 1908, MacMillan began to explore, eventually accompanied…
Maine, as most places on Earth, is home to native and non-native species of plants and animals. The State of Maine has extensive resources on this subject so there is no need to restate them here. An invasive plant is defined as a plant that is not native to a particular ecosystem, whose introduction does…
This township is mostly south of the Golden Road where the Northern Road turns down toward the Pittston Farm, established by the Great Northern Paper Company. According to John Gould, In lumber camp lingo a “farm” is a depot and base of operations serving a considerable area of working timberland. Pittston Farm had storage sheds,…
The township [also known as T7 R11 NWP] is home to First and Second Little Lyford Ponds, an Appalachian Mountain Club lodge on the site of an historic logging camp, and an extensive section of the Appalachian Trail. The ponds and lodge are east of Greenville following…
Most of the town’s inhabitants are located between U.S. Route 1 (inland) and U.S. Route 1A which runs along the coast. Its population has more than doubled in the past thirty years, and grew by nearly 31 percent between 1990 and 2000. Beaches and cottages characterize the coast.
Dempset was the first female to graduate from Maine Maritime Academy. Born and raised in Connecticut, she went to the University of Vermont where she worked for a yacht delivery company. Later she decided to further her education at the Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, where she was at the top of her class. After…
is on U.S. Route 1 and the Sheepscot River. See photos and videos. With many historic structures, the town was host to “The Greenland Expedition of 1925,” which included explorers Richard Byrd and Donald McDonald. Since 1918 Camp Chewonki has been offering outdoor programs here. The town was once best known for its Maine Yankee Atomic Power plant.